Abbotsford – Last Monday (June 10), Abbotsford City Council endorsed an ambitious new Green Fleet Strategy for all City of Abbotsford vehicles, announced Mayor Henry Braun today.
The City, including the Abbotsford Police Department and Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service, has a current fleet of over 600 light and heavy-duty vehicles that are primarily powered by fossil fuels. The City of Abbotsford’s Official Community Plan sets clear community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets: 20% per capita by the year 2025 and 40% per capita by the year 2040, against 2007 emission levels. Efforts to reduce the City’s corporate GHG emissions are guided by these targets, and by the City’s commitments under the BC Climate Action Charter.
The City of Abbotsford’s fleet emissions account for 52% of all corporate emissions. In order to lower the City’s GHG emissions, the Green Fleet Strategy will guide fleet renewal and replacement planning, based on alternate fuel technology and environmentally conscious practices, to work towards realizing GHG reduction targets for the corporate fleet.
As part of these efforts, staff will continue to monitor technological advancements and identify opportunities for integration of renewable natural gas (RNG) and renewable diesel, all of which would significantly reduce fleet emissions and move the City more quickly towards the targets.
The Green Fleet Strategy project was completed with grant funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program. The grant contributed $57,600 toward the total project budget of $70,000. An additional funding contribution of $12,000 was made by Fraser Valley Regional District.
The budget for annual fleet replacement works is included in the approved 2019-2023 Financial Plan. Annual Fleet replacement plans will be evaluated for potential alternate fuel options and funding contribution, to offset additional capital cost required for alternate fuel options, will be requested from City’s Climate Action Reserve Fund.
